Hey, Scott, are you saying you think it is possible in this life to cease sinning, to be sinless? If so, I would disagree with that. We should understand what John says here in the same light as what Paul says in Romans 7, that regarding sinning, Paul says, "it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me." (Romans 7:20)
Grace and peace to you.
I am not saying anything different than John or Paul, but saying the same. Nor did they contradict each other.
The problem here is indeed one of misunderstanding--and no one that considers themselves to be a follower of Christ should determine that John or Paul (or any of us who are in accord) have misstated the truth. You seem to have reconciled the two, but somewhat disagree also...so I will explain further:
Neither John or Paul is more or less correct. But John is willing to be conclusively honest and forthright, while Paul is still straddling the line between those who have yet to cross over that line made by Christ between the dead and the living, of which He finished and has claimed victory well before most of the gentiles have come to know. His writings speak of both--not that both continue for those who are in Christ, but rather because then and now there are those just coming to the truth of what John stated in that finality of which Christ has taken with Him to the throne of Heaven. Even Paul was also as forthright to say much the same thing, not putting off what is finished, but stating these things clearly, even saying that we who are in Christ "
were" crucified and raised up with Him. Which is to say that Paul did not at all tell of an option for some who consider themselves as having Christ in them, to linger or fall short of what is already finished in them--because he was not speaking of those in who Christ has already come, but of those to whom He has not yet come, but would continue to come into for millennia--"
each in his own order."
So, knowing that John and Paul were both correct, we who are in Christ should not aid those who do not know it, but find exception in their own misunderstanding. On the contrary, we should speak of Christ's victory as being finished at the cross.